The central premise behind the Japanese sensation Before the Coffee Gets Cold series is this: if you could travel back in time to have one final conversation with someone, who would you choose and what would you say? Partly inspired by the author’s experience of his father’s sudden death as a child and being unable to say goodbye, Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s tender creation of a backstreet Tokyo café where people get to have the conversation they need the most has connected with readers worldwide.

With more than a million copies sold, he joins Maggie Tweedie to share the series’ most recent instalment, Before We Say Goodbye and discuss why his Tokyo time travel tales have resonated so powerfully with readers across the globe.